The power and strength of two polar opposites casts an extraterrestrial force known as “Max Steel”. Based on the 2000 and 2013 television series of the same name, the movie tells the story of 16-year old Max McGrath (Ben Winchell), who has just moved to a new town and is desperately trying to fit in, When he discovers his body can generate the universe’s most powerful energy. Unbeknown to Max, a slightly rebellious and hilarious techno-organic extraterrestrial named Steel (Josh Brener) has been keeping an eye on him, hungry for his super-human energy. When they finally meet, they discover that together they form a superhero possessing powerful strength beyond anything in our world or wildest imaginations. These two unlikely friends soon find themselves hunted by sinister forces who want to control Max’s powers, as well as an unstoppable enemy from another galaxy. “Max Steel” is directed by Stewart Hendler, and is rated PG-13 for some sci-fi action and violence.

“Max Steel” doesn’t have anything terribly wrong with it to make it one of the worst movies of 2016. That alone is possibly the nicest thing that I will be saying about it. The biggest problems that this movie has are in its predictable conventionalism, that never takes any chances against a backdrop in era that has us literally littered in the superhero genre, and in its boring presentation that always feels lifeless and uninspiring. Up until about a week ago, I had no idea that this movie even existed, let alone cast a series of kids books that conjured up quite the cult following amongst readers ages 8-14. When I got around to watching the trailer, I feared for the worst, and maybe because of such a negativity this movie wasn’t as terrible as it could’ve been. It’s certainly not going to win over many creative points with me, but in a year where so many movies have been terrible, “Max Steel” prides itself by being just plain, and that’s a popular theme that radiates throughout this movie.

Clocking in at a surprising $15-20 million dollar budget, there’s very little about this movie that stands out in eye-popping aesthetics. The color scheme promotes an obvious character front, complete with the good guy harvesting a shade of blue within his suit to represent good, and the villain showcasing a scheme of red to represent the evil inside of him. For a movie with a PG-13 rating, I couldn’t understand where this movie was second guessed for childlike audiences. There’s no swearing, no sexuality of any kind, and very little violence, and what it does have doesn’t promote any blood or gore. This is one of those ratings that will always have me clueless. Besides the color scheme, the film’s camera work is able enough without taking too many chances. There’s very little effort not to make this look like something off of the Nickelodeon Network, and if I had to combine two films to represent the style aesthetically of this film I would say “Jem and the Holograms” meets “Fantastic Four (2015)”. Nothing here is too appealing as once again we see many scenes engulfed in a colorless void that never makes you want to stay for longer than five minutes. The fluid motions in special effects are just OK, but I noticed a big error in production within the energy effect of Max’s hands. If you know what to look for, you can spot several green-screen tints within the areas that surround his hands, and this left me distracted on more than one occasion.

The character building is virtually non-existent, with very little backstory or exposition being given to support the notion that not every audience member has read the books. For the first act of the movie, I garnered an overwhelming feeling that very little was going to be explained with the idea of how this boy got this power in the first place and why now of all times to pop up. While the former does finally get some resolution within the final twenty minutes of the film, the latter has me still hanging on to a question that I have to write off as nothing more than a convenient plot device that would otherwise have no meaning for its 87 minute feature. There’s a poorly and thinly constructed romantic subplot between Max and a girl named Sofia (Played by Ana Villafane) that evolves to nothing more than just another teenage arc. I’ll discuss the acting more later, but it’s clear that Villafane and Winchell have zero romantic chemistry between them, and the movie understands this contrivance by cutting off their development midway through the movie, only to be seen again in the closing minutes of the movie for the predictable kiss. I mentioned earlier how conventional this movie felt, and it really is the story’s biggest flaw. This movie is one re-write away from being another Spider-Man movie, and the similarities between those characters become even more apparent the more you think about the reliance that this story has upon the death of Max’s father Jim (Played by Mike Doyle). While on that subject, every superhero movie needs an antagonist to go against our leading hero, so who’s it going to be? The movie has two adults with major (If you can call it that) talking roles in the movie, one of which is Max’s Mother. With the odds that his Mother probably isn’t going to turn on him being a safe bet, that only leaves a sneaky colleague of Jim’s; Miles (Played by Andy Garcia). Once the painfully obvious becomes apparent, the movie had about twenty minutes to not only answer the barrage of questions that plagued my memory, but also craft a final battle between the two characters. It does answer most of the questions that I had, but it’s always the most convenient of circumstances.

Within that fight battle are some decently crafted fight choreography turns that at least entertained me for what little was left of the movie. The third act is definitely the strong point of the movie, not saying much when you consider how dull and uninteresting the rest of the movie was. At least this is one superhero movie that got the conflict correct enough, even if it took many moons to get there.

The acting certainly wasn’t anything special, as there’s a real taste of dissatisfaction within much of this cast sporting their first major roles in film. I can’t blame them for their character direction because that falls entirely in the hands of director Hendler, whom I wasn’t too razzled by. My problem more so dabbles in the emotionless deliveries that each of the main cast felt lost in. Winchell couldn’t have bored me any more, and really casts great emphasis on just how important a charismatic lead is for a superhero role. Winchell doesn’t feel honest in anything he is relaying to the audience. Maybe that has more to do with a 22 year old playing a high school kid, but at no point in the movie did I feel empathetic or even supportive in his quest for truth. He’s a weak protagonist that guides this story down some truly abysmal roads. As for the well knowns, Maria Bello and Garcia are decent enough, despite not given much to work with. Bello is always a worker’s actress who makes the most of every role she takes on, and there’s a heartwarming moment that too would fall into obscurity without Maria’s patient and careful delivery. Garcia is fun to watch if only for the hokey lines of dialogue that this prestigious actor has to engage in.

This is one comic superblunder that Warner Brothers can rejoice in that they had nothing to do with. Along the way of tireless cliches and stubborn conventionalism, “Max Steel” is a less than satisfactory superhero flub that lacks any definitive energy. Even for a kid’s audience, the young minds are wise enough to know a stinker when they see it, and this one left a nasty aroma minutes after the trash was finally taken out. This one will dent the strongest of medals with its stupidity.

3/10